Boy Dies: Cinnamon Swallowing Leads To Death Of Matthew Radar, Mother Shares Story In Hopes Of Stopping The Cinnamon Challenge

A grieving mother is sharing the story of how her 4-year-old boy died after ingesting cinnamon, in the hopes that people understand the dangers of the cinnamon food challenge that has been sweeping across the internet.

Back in June of this year, Matthew Radar was acting like a normal 4-year-old boy and wanted to explore. Matthew climbed up on the cabinets in the kitchen and found a container of cinnamon. The boy began to eat the cinnamon that he had found, and he began to choke. The boy’s mother, Brianna, states that she had her back turned for less than a minute and then her whole world changed.

“He started choking, it was like he was having a seizure and just collapsed.”

The boy was quickly rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Paramedics were unable to stabilize Matthew, who died soon after arriving at the hospital. An autopsy was performed and the official cause of death was stated as an accident due to cinnamon asphyxiation.

Brianna Radar is now sharing her tragic story in the hopes to educate the public and raise awareness that cinnamon can kill when inhaled in large doses. The focus of who she wants to be aware are the children who want to participate in the cinnamon challenge.

“All these kids do the cinnamon challenge. They don’t think about the fact it can hurt them.”

The cinnamon challenge has been made popular by videos on YouTube. When searching for cinnamon challenge on YouTube, just under 1 million results are found. In the challenge, a person is asked to swallow a spoonful of ground cinnamon without drinking any water. People who do the cinnamon challenge risk choking and gagging on the spice. During choking or gagging, a person may quickly try to inhale and breath, and this is what makes the cinnamon challenge lethal.

Cinnamon is harvested from the bark of certain trees. Because it is a plant, it contains cellulose. If cellulose ends up inside of the lungs it can lead to deadly consequences. This is what happened to the 4-year-old boy earlier this summer. Matthew inhaled the cinnamon and it got inside of his lungs, causing him to no longer be able to get the oxygen that he needed to live. Matthew was too young to know that what he was doing could kill him. The ones who are old enough to know how to do the cinnamon challenge should be smart enough to realize that it could kill them.